A listing of live jazz events, mostly in North Berkshire and South Bucks, PLUS CD reviews from Geoff

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Jazz Happens at Hedsor

even when I'm on a holiday break!

Jazz has "happened" at the Hedsor Social Club every Thursday for over 14 years, and this coming Thursday is no exception. There will be another absentee apart from myself, and that is our regular bass player Ken Rankine, who from an early hour on Thursday will be making his way to Malta. Ken can speak Maltese and I can speak Dorset, so even if this blog comes to you via a dodgy laptop, we will all be able to understand it!!

In Ken's place will be Steve Riddle, taking time off from teaching people how to ride a motor bike.

The rest of the band will all probably seem familiar. You KNOW it's good at jazz, and always fun to hear and for you be seen at Hedsor Jazz, so do make good my absence and come in my place.

Do also take time to promote our forthcoming concert raising money (I hope) for Cancer Research. See last weeks blog for the poster details. It would be good to sell tickets in advance of the event on May 14th, but they will be available on the door subject to capacity. But to be sure of YOUR place for the music and buffet, buy a ticket either from Dee on Thursday, or from Cookham's Stationery Depot.The price is just £10.

I have brought down to Dorset a number of CD's to listen to, so my next blog entry should let you know what I think of some of them!!

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

This Week at Hedsor Jazz and Other Things!

This Thursday will be a standard issue
week!! Mike Jeffries will be on drums as last week, and next week, and the rest
of the band will be our usual suspects.

There are a number of
“special” events coming up in the next few months that I have enough detail of now to be able to promote. So sharpen that pencil (or better still find the
pen) and write them in your diary NOW.

May 12th at 8pm
we have Karen Sharp and Stuart Henderson coming with the Clive Burton Quintet.
This is our Cancer Research UK Concert for this year, and will be starting at
8pm, and with a buffet as well all for that amazing price of £10 a ticket.

August 11th at
8pm we attempt to celebrate another year of GC survival. Again, a buffet, and
this year my guests so far booked are Tracey Mendham and Alan Graham. £10 will
be the ticket price.

Both of those events are at
The Hedsor Social Club, but in September I am organising a concert at Cores End
Church on Saturday 17th. The extra special guest for that evening
will be singer Sarah Moule. With her will be Mark Aston on saxophone, John
Coverdale on guitar, Nigel Fox keyboard, Ken Rankine on bass and Mike Jeffries
on drums. Mike lives nearer to that venue than any other that he can possibly play at!
All the others have to travel!! Kidding aside, it should be a super gig. The
church acoustics are really good, they promise a snack to eat at half time (and
that will be for the audience!) and again the tickets will be £10 each. 8pm
start.

So you can see that even if
I haven’t been writing blogs as regularly as I should, I have not just been
sitting on my prostate!!

I have listened to 2 CD’s
this week that are both really rather special. They are both modern Jazz Orchestra rather than Big Band,
they are both superbly well recoded, they are both American and the music on them
is wonderful. You need to sit and listen to appreciate them properly, they
deserve more than being the background to your magazine!!

The first one I listened to
is the latest from The Maria Schneider Orchestra. Called “The Thompson Fields”
the compositions relate to family land in her home state of Minnesota, and the
titles are all about memories of events in her experience of that state. All
the compositions are new, and show a jazz orchestra in perfect form. The
booklet the CD comes in is also a beautiful production, far and away a better
piece of art than that which wraps most CD releases. Its on artistShare records
AS0137.

The second album listened
to contains some reworking of Gil Evans tunes. Called “Lines of Color”, it
isn’t quite as lavishly wrapped, but it is superb as a work of art anyway with a good and informative booklet. The
orchestra is conducted by one Ryan Truesdell, and on further investigation I
now realise why the two albums both drew me in. Ryan also helped in the
production of the Maria Schneider CD! I think if you enjoy one, you will enjoy
the other, just as I did. The Gil Evans is more easily accessible because we
know some of the tunes. It is however astonishing when you realise that this CD
was recorded live at a concert. The musical precision is remarkable. It to is
on the artistShare label as ASBN 0133

Thursday, April 14, 2016

JAZZ TONIGHT AT HEDSOR

Yes, there WILL be jazz tonight at Hedsor, and I'm sorry for the late blog info It is due to entirely foreseen circumstances!!

Due to entirely unforeseen circumstances our drummer Martin Hart will NOT be able to play for us this evening. He has unfortunately had the index finger of his right hand lacerated by a stray cat!! In his place will be Mike Jeffries.

Please take note of one of our forthcoming "Special" evenings. On May 12th we are doing a fundraiser for Cancer Research UK, and have as our star guests saxophonist Karen Sharp and trumpeter Stuart Henderson.

Tuesday, April 05, 2016

Coming to Hedsor Jazz THIS WEEK

Over the past few weeks we
have had some exceptionally good sessions at Hedsor Jazz, with a wonderful mix
of guest musicians. Some came simply as deps for others who were/are on
holiday, some came as additional featured guests, but whatever the reason we have had some
fantastic sessions.

Musicians come to us
because they enjoy playing jazz at the quality level that Hedsor Jazz always
produces. Without exception, they all want to come again.

And this week is no
exception. Mike Wills is away, so we have a dep!! That dep is none other than
Simon Spillett.

OK, so he only brings ONE
reed instrument, a tenor sax, BUT…… it might be the one that used to be owned
and played by Tubby Hayes. Simon is the world renowned expert on Tubby, but without
doubt Simon his own man.

With him on Thursday we
will have the rest of “our own men”! Clive Burton of course on Trombone (now
with improved teeth fixative!), Ken Rankine bass, Nigel Fox keyboard and Mike
Jeffries on drums (I think Martin is still negotiating the Bay of Biscay).

So, for just £6 you get to
hear wonderful jazz, you get free parking, free raffle ticket at entry, and
beer at club prices. Now try THAT at Ronnie Scott’s. A friend went last week,
and a Bacardi and coke plus a tonic water cost £15!! On top of the entry
charge, they had to make that last all evening!

CD Recently Listened to

Most of the music we hear
at Hedsor is 1950’s style bop, with occasional excursions into more modern
styles, or perhaps we hear some hints of swing. Many years and another lifetime
ago I used to play trumpet in a trad band and I still have an appreciation of
the tunes and well played traditional style jazz. Sadly today more often than
not you hear that kind of jazz played by people and bands who have been playing
the same notes and telling the same jokes since 1956!! But when played with
thought and expertise, it can still be exciting and very enjoyable.

I have been listening to a
double album from Proper Records titled “Chris Barber, Memories of my Trip”.
Issued in 2011 it was to celebrate Chris’s 80th birthday and it has
an extremely wide selection of music and musicians, all playing at some time
since 1954 with Mr Barber. I recommend it to all jazz lovers, because the list
of guests is mouth watering. Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry, Rory Gallagher, Jeff
Healey, Van Morrison, Andy Fairweather Low, Keith Emerson, Edmund Hall, Trummy
Young, Mark Knopfler and more.